Purpose of #IMGlad Series

Hi Everyone,
One of the biggest realizations I’ve had by this point
in life is to “be happy by focusing on doing what
makes you happy”. Sounds simple right? I’m sure
most of you must be feeling that you already know
this, there is nothing new in this statement. But trust
me when I say it is a newfound discovery for me.
I wanted to find ways to truly realize this goal, live it
and 100% own it. I’m GLAD, I found a way, albeit the
one which involves sharing. Now, I’m sure most of
you would also agree that happiness is found when
shared. I would be doing something similar but
because of yet another self-discovery that I
genuinely love adding value to people’s life, in
whatever ways possible. It’s going to be a long run,
but I’m going all in.

With this book I intend to:

• Begin the #IMGlad Series – Gratitude,

Learnings and Delight. To summarize my
observations/key learnings of people in my
circle who I look up to. So, you may not find
any popular or established names in this
series, these are people who’ve had a positive
impact on my life and this series is my way of
thanking them.

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 • Provide value to people for their time (the
books will be 35-40 pages only & free to
download as PDF) in which they can learn
something interesting.

• Test my skills as a writer and learn from

feedbacks: how I can improve my process of
truly creating value for people.

With that out of the way, I make my debut with the

first person in the series – my mom. She has been an
inspiring figure not just for me but a lot of people we
know. This book is my attempt to get her story out
there.
I’m hoping, you’re able to connect with it.
Cheers!
Amyth Banerjee

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 Introduction:
More than anything, the genuine will to add value to
someone’s life is the biggest joy there ever will be.
Mumpa is the biggest believer of this statement and
is someone I’ve known, to have lived by this all her
life.
Mumpa is none other than what I call my mom.
There’s an interesting story as to how she received
that name. I was quite young around 4 or 5 years old;
my mom would often visit this temple at a particular
time when the prayer used to happen in the evening.
One of the words I heard in the prayers which was
meant to call out or address the divine entities was
“Mumpa”. At that age I did not know what it meant,
the name just stuck with me because I liked the
sound of it and felt, calling Ma or any other standard
names seemed boring. Thus, I started calling her
Mumpa. Little did I know that I had found a way to
uniquely address her. She would be from then on
known by that name in our entire family and all
those who know us.
Interestingly, some while back I stumbled upon
another realization. When you break down the word
it becomes Mum-Pa (Both Mom and Dad). Just
cementing the belief that she is the goodness of both
mom and dad combined.
However, Mumpa isn’t the only title that makes her
stand out, it is the title that she earned to her name
over the last 18 years that makes her who she is, -
teacher.

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I’m sure we all love our moms a lot. Any children
would want to talk about their moms being the best,
but this e-book intends to summarize some of my
key learnings from Mumpa that we all can benefit
from. Lessons that we all can apply by simply
observing the people closest to us.

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 About The Author
Amyth Banerjee is not a bestselling author,
motivational speaker or an expert in any particular
domain (at least not yet). He is not an entrepreneur
or owns any business. But he believes, if you have
something valuable or interesting to share, you don’t
necessarily need to wait until you become
influential, you can start, this book is a testament of
that belief.
He however has a diverse experience working across
3 different industries (Filmmaking, Digital
Marketing and Design Thinking) in the span of the
last 5 years. Has a YouTube channel where he
collaborates with Skateboarders, independent
musicians, brands and always is in his experimental
mode.
Starting 2018, He has taken keen interest in the
subjects of Self-Awareness, Human Observation and
documenting his learnings pro-actively which he
believes can help him in becoming a better version
of himself as well as other individuals who aspire
similarly.
This (debut e-book) is an attempt to spark a
discussion on the idea of expressing Gratitude, share
Learnings And Delight from people who we all look
up to. He’s stoked about bringing more such stories
to life with #IMGlad series.

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You can connect with him on his social networks,
where he has focused 2018 as the year, he will create
content about his daily challenges of sharing his
learnings with #10SR (10 Second Read) alongside
other challenges about which he will keep posting
about. Including the #IMGlad series. Stay tuned to
know when the other books are published,
interestingly since it is about people who’ve
impacted his life from his circles, if you’re connected
with him – who knows you could be next.

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 Table Of Content

1. Embracing New Challenges…………………… 8

2. Finding Creative Solutions…………………….13
3. Keen Interest in learning………………………16
4. Balancing Difficult Situations……………….19
5. Significance of maintaining

relationships……………………….........................22

6. Discipline of Routine……………………………25
7. She is not a leader,

she is the one who leads……............................27

8. Conclusion………………………………………….29

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 1. Embracing New Challenges

Mumpa has a very fine quality of communicating

with people. Even though in her early days she didn’t
know about a lot of things, but her ability to
communicate consistently has helped her learn and
evolve as a person. Having an open mind is
necessary, especially to something which is
completely new and alien to you.
In Mumpa’s case it was going to be teaching and this
dates to the year 2000 – The beginning of the 21st
Century, also a time when teaching wasn’t a huge
deal at least in India and at a location where there
were hardly any teaching classes (at the time).

Year 2000:
We had newly shifted base to Vasai from Gujarat
which was the closest we could afford to be
connected to Mumbai. This was because my dad got
a transfer to the city of opportunities. Back in 2000,
I was in 3rd grade and the only source of knowledge
for me used to be school books and encyclopaedias
(My knack of reading goes back to this time,
thankfully).
We were privileged enough to be staying in a
beautiful society that had a garden and good playing
space (Something which has become rare these
days).

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Evenings used to be a time, when the children would
play in the garden and all their mothers would
gather around the garden where they would sit and
talk while also keeping an eye on their children. They
would mostly discuss life in general, talk about
challenges or would probably want to learn about
some cooking recipe/tips.
It was interesting to know that most of the topics
revolved around what they could do better for their
family. This was a space where healthy networking
would happen over getting to know more about each
other’s family and thus build a bonding.
During one of these talks, one lady happened to
appreciate Mumpa on her communication abilities
and asked her if she is a teacher. This was the first
time she heard such a compliment and didn’t know
how to react. Mumpa had never been a teacher
before and she humbly mentioned this fact.
But something about that conversation had an
impression on this woman, who was convinced that
her son wouldn’t get a better teacher than Mumpa.
She knew that Mumpa wasn’t a teacher, but the
reason she went ahead because she sensed
authenticity in the communication. An authenticity
she was willing to bet upon.
For Mumpa, it was a completely new thing. But she
took upon the challenge as she felt that it would be a
great way to utilize her time and if she could indeed
add value to this person’s life, she would be the
happiest. Once again, the principle upon which

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Mumpa bases her life is the one that helps her
squeeze into a mindset of achieving the unknown.
With that she began her journey into teaching and
the quality of communicating clearly and being her
authentic self, worked wonders and as the journey
progressed, I witnessed what word-of-mouth truly
means.
From humble beginnings of one student and what
seemed like an experiment in the beginning, she
went on to reach a peak of 37 students within 5 years.
Students ranging from 1st grade to 10th grade, all
subjects and both state board as well as CBSE board.
I can easily say at the time when she achieved this
feat, she did it all by herself. Single-handedly and
without affecting household responsibilities. She
realized after her student base expanded initially
that this extra source of income could be a great
thing for her family. So, she worked towards a
mindset where she could give justice to both her
house as well as the tuitions.
This was possible because she had an open mind.
She was able to grow her income substantially
without any marketing and this was at a time when
the term ‘Entrepreneur’ didn’t even achieve its
coolness quotient.
Some of the reasons which I believe why this worked
goes back to the principle we started with. Mumpa
was driven by the genuine will to add value to
people’s life. Now in teaching, she happened to find
a way to channelize this to a great extent. Also, with

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the thought that this income helped her family,
motivated her further to truly give her best.
She always believed that it is never the student’s
fault for getting low marks, a student will learn on
their own when they start loving the subjects. As a
teacher, it is important to be empathetic and make
the students fall in love with the process of learning.
She knew that not every student was same and that
it is important to understand them first and then
decide on the methods which works best for a
student.
She was interested in the art of forming a habit for
the students, creating a belief system for them. She
created an environment where she would encourage
her students to speak their mind and was actively
interested in their progress. I would observe her
sometimes when she would be in the process of
teaching, her sessions would be interactive and she
made sure that her students didn’t feel bored. She
maintained the energy herself so that the students
would look forward to coming to tuitions every day.
Mumpa, had beautifully inculcated a habit among all
of them to take a keen interest in their subjects.
Being a teacher who is enthusiastic to learning
herself, is perhaps a key trait of an ideal teacher.
Teaching helped shape her mindset to handle any
kind of situation wisely. During the tuitions she
would teach, at the same time learn herself how to
be more efficient as a homemaker as well. Being in

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an environment of education, she was able to think
wisely and execute accordingly.
For someone, who considered that once upon a time
she wasn’t smart and knowledgeable, to rising to the
level of a reputed teacher and respected by everyone
is an incredible feat. She goes on to establish the
thought that if you are motivated by the right beliefs,
you can take on any challenge. Even though you may
not entirely know how to tackle it, but eventually you
will figure out. You need to be deeply interested in
the challenge.

Takeaways:
Stay true to your belief systems and be your
authentic self consistently. Be someone who inspires
people to fall in love with their work.

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 2. Finding Creative Solutions

Year – 2001
Barely a year post that, Mumpa faced another
interesting challenge and something that evolved
her from a teacher to an inspiring leader. This was
the year when her word of mouth had reached to a
family which needed a home tutor for their daughter.
It was a different scenario; the student was
differently abled and had cerebral palsy. The
challenge before Mumpa was coming from a parent
who just wanted to ensure that her daughter cleared
her high school examinations.
It was also the first time Mumpa would be traveling
to a different place to take tuitions. But in her belief
system, she was strongly determined to take on this
challenge, but knew it very well that this was a
different scenario and she would require to be
creative to come out victorious.
One of the most interesting things, mumpa did
earlier on was to spend time in understanding this
student. She spent time building a rapport with her
and attended events, institutions, places which was
dedicated for the differently abled. Mumpa gave her
genuine attention and was eager to truly be of help.
It was during one of these conversations, the girl was
really upset because she would find it difficult to

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study. Mumpa, wanted to figure out why was this the
case. So, she probed into finding out more as to what
really interests her. Turns out she loved listening to
songs especially Rabindra sangeet (Music of
Rabindranath Tagore). She asked Mumpa to sing
her a song, she would love to listen to it. Mumpa
obliged and performed for her special student at the
same time also came up with an idea to help her.
She came home and asked me to buy a blank cassette
from the shop. I did as told. We had an old tape
recorder at our home with which one could record
audio on cassettes (I miss those days).
So, she decided to try an experiment, she would
recite questions and answers from a book in a very
slow and consistent pace which is easily audible. She
would record the cassette and the next day bring it
for her student who would listen to the recording on
her Walkman (An impressive technology in the early
21st century, sadly not anymore).
It helped her increase her interest in learning. She
would love to listen to the recordings and it helped
her learn her subjects.
This creative solution was brought to life when the
concept of audiobooks didn’t entirely exist and
Aamir khan’s Taare Zameen Par hadn’t yet released
which had some interesting methods to teach
students who find it difficult to learn or the most
recent Bollywood flick featuring Rani Mukherjee –
Hichki. Now when I watch these movies with a

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unique teaching methodology it reminds me of
Mumpa.
I did not realize the significance of this method until
quite recently. The student went on to clear her
exams with good numbers and Mumpa was glad that
she could add value to her life.

Takeaways:
When faced with a challenge which is unlike what
you may have done before, taking a genuine interest
is important. Understanding about the challenge is
key.
It is important to understand that some problems
may not be solved by standard means, we may need
to experiment some methods which could be
unusual at the time, but it is necessary to go with it
and execute it with conviction. It turns out to be the
right thing if you’ve gauged the problem well. Even
if it doesn’t, it leaves you wise.
Most importantly, if you are aligned with your belief
system, you will make it happen.

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 3. Keen Interest in Learning

Year 2012
When you’ve practiced your belief system for more
than a decade it naturally generates instincts to
identify an opportunity. This was the year when
Mumpa came across something that would allow her
to gain insights into the world of advanced learning
via the program called Smart Q. This was aimed at
teaching children using creative methods that not
just makes them learn their subjects but develops
their overall personality from an early age.
By all means, Mumpa was the ideal person to be a
part of something like this. She took on this
challenge yet again with an open mind. There was an
opportunity to learn new ways of teaching, she
participated in several workshops that would train
her with the new methods. Around this time, she
came across another interesting student from her
Smart Q classes, who was having a difficult time
learning. She later realized that this student had
what we know as learning dyslexia. One needs to be
extremely patient with a student like this.
Mumpa’s stint with Smart Q ended because the
franchise owner decided to close the classes. But she
had already found her next mission. It was the
student with learning dyslexia. Mumpa decided to
continue with home tuitions for this student. She

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was determined to learn more about this topic and
as a result she would make visits to the education
counsellor with the parents of the boy to understand
more about how to deal with something like this.
Her keen will to learn and provide value to this
student and his parents was truly extra-ordinary.
Once again, she focused on building a rapport with
the student and genuinely understanding his mind.
In the process, Mumpa figured out that the student
loved talking, so she would ensure that while the
teaching would happen, every day she would talk to
him, listen to the crazy stories he had to say and
respond in his lingo. These small activities built trust
over a period and today it has been 6 years. I can
personally vouch for this boy looking at not only his
grades improving but the fact that he has evolved as
a student to take keen interest in learning.
Mumpa always treated him like a regular student
but her way of interaction was different. She learned
what motivated him and was just there to guide him
in achieving it.

Takeaways:
When you are deeply driven by learning, no matter
which new frontier you are looking to venture on to,
you will always taste success.

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Moreover, the biggest learning is learning about
human behaviour and knowing what truly motivates
them.

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 4. Balancing Difficult Situations

Mumpa and Dad co-founded our organization called

the ‘Banerjee Family’ which has now spanned 29
years. I and my younger brother became part of the
team along the journey. From humble beginnings to
moving to a completely new city to buying a small 1
Room kitchen and eventually owning a bigger 2 BHK
flat, it involved a lot of economics, research and
planning to execute each of these decisions.
While Dad played an important role in all these
milestone events, Mumpa was the strong pillar that
ensured these decisions would be executed fruitfully.
Year – 2005
I was in 8th grade and my younger brother was in 3rd
grade. At the time we were living in a small 1 room
kitchen flat. Around this time there used to be a lot
of discussion regarding moving to a bigger space.
But of course, a decision like such isn’t as easy as it
seems.
Mumpa was thinking from the perspective of the
future. She was right, but it was nonetheless
challenging to make it happen instantly. We (Me and
my younger brother) were very young to make our
opinions count, although we did know that moving
to a bigger place was important.

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I remember I used to accompany mumpa to scout
for flats.
Around this time, my dad had to undergo a surgery
to remove a blood clot in the brain. It was crucial
times, but Mumpa understood one thing very
clearly, she needed to be brave. It was challenging for
her, but she was focused to hold herself together and
figure a way out. I remember both me and my
brother were very young and Mumpa would need to
travel to the hospital multiple times.
When she would return home to us, she wouldn’t let
the pressure or tension bother us. While at the same
time the prospect of our new house was becoming a
reality with each passing day. Mumpa was keeping a
tab on this as well.
We were fortunate enough to meet a good family
who were reselling their 2 BHK flat. Everything fell
into its place and it was a good deal in the end.
Mumpa was on top of both the situations and before
we moved to our new house, dad was discharged
from the hospital. We had moved to not just a bigger
house, but the process of Dad’s recovery was also
hassle-free, this was all possible due to Mumpa’s
persistent efforts.

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Takeaways:
When you are extremely clear about your intentions,
even if you are in the middle of two different
challenging situations: you will know exactly how to
handle them both.
Also, when you are very sure about your vision for
the future, it is important to go all in.

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 5. Significance of Maintaining
Relationships

Most of the things that I have talked about in the

previous chapters are something that I’m still in the
process of inculcating within myself. It has been
quite recently that I decided to open myself up and
work my way towards self-awareness. So, it was
important to firstly, identify and acknowledge my
observations.
Writing about it, is just one way of making it a point
that I act on these principles which come from my
own family. It’s just a note to self that ‘Charity does
begin at home’ there is so much meaningful
information and learnings from our family members
that can elevate us to a better version of ourselves,
but only when we choose to view it from that lens.
Talking about becoming a better version of myself,
one of the biggest learnings coming from Mumpa is
how she emphasises on maintaining relationships. I
believe this is something most mothers believe in
and they invest their genuine efforts to maintain
those relationships because somewhere they know
this is what holds a family together and strengthens
the bond.
Every human comes with their varied levels of
complexity, good or bad etc. Now, it is very natural
to express whether we like or don’t like a person and

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this influences our decision to interact with the
person or limit it. Mumpa would have her opinions,
she would address the challenges or concerns
involved with a person as most humans do. But she
would always maintain her consistency of
interacting with people.
In fact, she would rather like to be besides someone
in their challenging times instead of their happy
times. Every time she has got that opportunity, she
has lived by it. She has always believed that
relationships need attention and keeping this
equation good becomes a long-term source of
happiness.
According to her ‘expectations must take a back seat,
maintain a relationship because you want to GIVE
and that brings a smile on your face. Do it only
because you love to add value to someone’s life’.
One such incident in the recent times makes this
very evident. For quite a long time, we weren’t in
contact with a family relative of ours living in
Kolkata. Someone in their family who was nearly 80
years old was suffering some major health concerns
due to which he had to be kept in I.C.U.
The moment mumpa learnt about this, she booked
her tickets and travelled to Kolkata immediately.
They talked after years, but Mumpa didn’t let the
past come in the way. She stayed there for almost 2
weeks until the recovery happened. This healed both
the old relationship as well as the old person himself.

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Today, we are in great talking terms and it has only
been helpful to each of us from a psychological
standpoint, we are now at peace and according to
Mumpa that’s what matters most. She didn’t do it for
anything else but her genuine will and dedication to
maintain relationships.
She has always opted for the win-win, anything she
can do within her capacity to eventually ensure that
her family and people connected to us are happy.
This is what drives her, and therefore
people/students listen to her when she speaks
because that’s the mark of an important person. That
is how you earn respect.

Takeaways:
Networking is necessary, maintaining the
relationship is essential.
There might be times when you might require going
all out of your way, not because it will reap you
benefits if you do so, but because it is an extension of
who you are.
This attribute needs to be as genuine as possible.
People can see through the layers if you fake it. Most
importantly maintaining relationships generates
feeling of loyalty and trust which is a priceless
treasure to earn.

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 6. Discipline of Routine

When you have been a teacher for 2 decades,

discipline becomes an extension of your personality.
To add to that further, mothers have a natural
inclination towards following a particular routine
which makes them efficient at managing the home
so well. When I speak of routine, I mean the way she
stays connected with each member of the family.
Keeping an account of what the family needs,
making sure that her family is getting proper meals
every day.
As a homemaker, mothers take the responsibility to
ensure that the house feels like home. There is a long
list of activities that she needs to keep a track on,
basically most mothers go through this cycle of
routine daily.
One of the biggest lessons that we all can learn here
is the act of practicing certain similar activities daily.
As Mumpa puts it “Success isn’t doing things
differently, success is the ability to do the same thing
in a better way daily and consistently”. Basically, it is
about achieving a consistency that lasts a longer
duration.
So, while in Mumpa’s case discipline came naturally
to her being a teacher, she chose to continue the
same with her responsibilities as a homemaker. She
never feels that she is doing it because it is her duty,

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she does it because she loves it. Although, it’s a
simple idea we’ve all heard it before – “Do what you
love, love what you do” but one needs to witness a
person who lives by this example to truly believe it.
Discipline in this form increases productivity and
keeps you prepared to face the most difficult
challenges.
While it took me a great deal of time to summarize
these inspiring lessons that Mumpa always
inhabited but like mumpa mentions it is never too
late.

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 7. She is not a leader, she is the one
who leads!

The most interesting part which forms the basis of

all these learnings is the fact that Mumpa didn’t
really give much attention to these traits, she never
read any books on such topics, she never studied
management. In fact, most mothers don’t have any
associations with such things but still they are able
to manage, run and scale the most important
organization in this world – family. Isn’t it
something interesting?
We never truly address this, but in my opinion,
mothers are the biggest entrepreneurs; only
difference they don’t do it for profits, they do it for
value. They work with a singular focus and are the
most efficient COO’s in the world: only they may not
know it yet.
Similar is the case with mumpa, who may have
pulled off these interesting achievements all by
herself, but she never knew that this is the what
makes a leader. In fact, most leaders, focus on their
belief systems and the biggest reason they leave an
impact is because they are in the game as an all-
timer (not a full-timer or a part-timer).
Mumpa is more than what a mother can be, she is
not a leader, she is the one who leads. She has always
known what she needs to do for her family, there was

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never any doubt and hence she could lead so well.
She knows the members of her organization in and
out. What motivates us, what we like, dislike. She
knows everything.
Most importantly she has created an environment
where we can fail, because she feels only then we can
learn and truly grow. So, at Banerjee Family –
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the
courage to continue that counts” (Winston
Churchill).
Your biggest source of inspiration is around you all
your life, we often fail to recognize them. I’m also
aware that though I was able to reflect and
summarize this quite recently, there are a lot of these
lessons I need to begin implementing in my life. I’m
confident that it will help me with my own personal
mission in life which is ‘Fighting for a better
tomorrow’.
I was convinced about one belief at the time of
writing this book, that just like mumpa, even I have
always been driven by the principle of adding value
to people’s lives. I may haven’t lived up to its fullest
potential, but this is something which needs
consistent practice and it begins with
acknowledgement.

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 Conclusion:

Interestingly, Mumpa never knew anything about

entrepreneurship, business or management. She
was always driven by the fundamental thought of
keeping her family happy, which is of course as a
mother one of the primary thoughts.
Now that I have documented all these learnings
about mumpa, I feel more self-aware and believe
that I’m ready to practice these lessons for a better
tomorrow. So, my challenge would be to return with
a follow-up book to this (Hopefully much bigger and
grander) in 2020, where I would love to fill the book
with my detailed journey of how these lessons
helped me grow.
On an end note, I’m grateful to everyone who’s read
this far and is keen to join me in the journey of self-
awareness. I would love to hear what you folks think
on my socials. Meanwhile, my daily challenge of
sharing my learnings is on: follow - #10SR. I would
also be starting a podcast real soon and lots of
interesting things lined up, so it would be great to
stay connected. Cheers!

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